News Feature

Maine Maritime Academy students, officers, and crew are finalizing plans for the Training Ship State of Maine to visit ports in southern U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada as part of the college’s annual two-month training cruise to foreign and domestic ports of call.

This year’s training cruise itinerary includes Tampa, Fla. May 17-19; San Juan, Puerto Rico May 28-30; Baltimore, Md. June 8-10; Quebec, Canada June 20-22; and Eastport June 29. The ship will host a family day sail on the return leg from Searsport to Castine, arriving in Castine on June 30, according to a news release from the academy.

Under the command of Captain Leslie B. Eadie, III of Brewer, the ship is to depart Castine Harbor on May 9. The training cruise will commence in port on May 5 for pre-sailing preparation.

Students pursuing an officer’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard as a third mate or third assistant engineer are required to train at sea for at least 60 days in each of their first three years at the academy. Freshmen and juniors sail aboard the MMA vessel, while sophomores are assigned to merchant ships worldwide. In recent years, MMA training cruises have taken students to Aruba, Bermuda, Brazil, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Poland, Russia, and Spain, as well as other European and Caribbean countries.

The 500-foot, 16,000-ton T/S State of Maine, the former USNS Tanner, originally served as a Navy oceanographic research vessel and was converted in 1997 to accommodate the training needs of the college. The fourth vessel to bear the name State of Maine, the ship is a modern, technologically advanced training vessel.